1. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A number of types of spinner bait fishing lures have previously been devised which rely upon, or utilize, polished metal spinner blades which are intended to rapidly rotate when the lure is retrieved. In some spinner baits which include a heavy central body, the spinner blade is attached to an elongated wire extended through the central body by means of a clevis. Because of this type of connection, the spinner blade is impaired in its ability to freely rotate about a horizontal axis at a time when the lure is retrieved so that it extends at a relatively sharp or large angle to the horizontal. In this case, the spinner blade will be caused, from time-to-time, to bang against the body or attempt to rotate around the elongated wire shaft which extends through the body, but the clevis then tends to cause the spinner blade to bind up and fail to rotate.
2. Brief Description of the Present Invention
The present invention provides an improved spinner bait-type fishing lure in which the spinner blade is free to rotate rapidly about a horizontal axis, no matter what the attitude of the lure with respect to the horizontal.
Broadly described, the spinner blade fishing lure of the invention includes generally an ellipsoidally shaped, heavy body located at the center of the lure and having an elongated wire shaft extending centrally therethrough so that it projects from the opposite ends of the body. The wire shaft has an eye on one of its ends which is used for attaching a retrieving line to the lure. This eye is spaced from the body, and is separated therefrom by a plurality of spherical spacer elements slidably carried on the wire shaft.
On its other end, the wire shaft carries a hook. In a preferred embodiment, a buck tail fly may be provided which helps to camoflage the hook at this location. The spinner bait further includes a spinner blade assembly which is rotatably connected to a span of the wire shaft between the retrieving line eye and the body. The spinner blade assembly is connected to the wire shaft so that it is free to rotate through 360.degree., and is free to rotate about the shaft no matter what angle the wire shaft extends to the portion of the spinner blade assembly which connects the spinner blade to the shaft.
The spinner blade assembly includes a hollow housing or barrel into which short wires are extended. Each of these short wires preferably carries small spherical bearing elements at an end located within the barrel. These spherical bearing elements, located inside the hollow swivel barrel, enable the barrel to swivel or rotate about the bearing elements. This enables the spinner blade which is connected to the barrel to freely swivel about a horizontal axis during all modes and attitudes assumed by the lure when it is retrieved.
An important object of the invention is to provide a spinner bait-type fishing lure which includes a brightly polished spinner blade mounted to a central elongated wire shaft of the lure so that the spinner blade can rotate about the wire shaft in any attitude the shaft may assume, and so that the spinner blade is free to rotate about a horizontal axis. This is effected by means of a novel swivel assembly by means of which the swivel blade is connected to the elongated wire shaft of the lure.
Another important object of the invention is to provide a spinner blade lure which is sturdy in its construction, reliable in its operation and characterized in having a long and trouble free operating life.
Additional objects and advantages of the lure of the invention will be come apparent as the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompany drawings which illustrate such preferred embodiment.